A short break in a shoreline cottage is an ideal place to struggle with your demons. For Elly and Martin it is the chance to forget their hasty exit from Paradise following classroom scandal. But she makes a life-changing find on the tideline, a diamond dress-ring with finger bones still attached.

Scroll back a few months and at Martin's place of work - a Chester hospital - we meet new nurse Hayley. Young, gorgeous; she is a player, and totally turned off by the ward surgeon, Richard Congreve. Until, that is, she catches a whiff of something expensive in his Jag and is ensnared by a gift so desirable it may prove fatal. As we question who the ring and its finger really belong to, the cottage collects the secrets of those who have stayed there. Why has Elly such power over them all? Ranging between Wales, the north of England and Goa, this is a novel about possession, betrayal - and how much we can afford to lose.

"Williams' writing is off-beat, subtle, haunting, fresh." - Kate Long

"A controlled and gifted stylist, Williams is inventive and inspiring in her craft." - Prof. Colin Nicholson, JTB Judge

"Wonderfully varied style and excellent characterisation." - Morning Star